How Danganronpa’s Monokuma Was Made

While Makoto Naegi is the protagonist in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Monokuma, the evil teddy bear principal of Hope’s Peak Academy, is my favorite character. Siliconera spoke with producer Yoshinori Terasawa and asked how they made Monokuma.

"Monokuma was created by the scenario writer Mr. Kodaka and the character designer Mr. Komatsuzaki. He was created with an image of contradictions in mind, like good and evil, hope and despair," Terasawa explained. "These contradicting elements create a sort of highlighting effect. Although it ended up being much darker than expected (laughs). But I think that’s just an expression of Mr. Kodaka’s nature, as well."

Monokuma is Spike Chunsoft’s most recognizable character too. Because of that he’s made cameos in other games like Terraria, which Spike Chunsoft brought to Japan, and Conception IIas a DLC boss battle. We asked what the team thought of Monokuma making appearances in other titles.

"It’s nice to see Monokuma show up in different games, because I get to see him from a user’s perspective. Even within those different game worlds, I think he still exerts his presence," said Terasawa.

When Monokuma isn’t trying to crush hope, it’s at the heart of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc’s story. Why did Spike Chunsoft choose that as a core theme?

Terasawa answered, "Society these days seems to have a general feeling of hopelessness. So I thought it would be good to emphasize the importance of having hope and just moving forward."

A lot of school based stories these days from Japan can be very dire at spots. Other than purely horror/suspense based stories, even cutesy and bubbly school-life shows can oftentimes show that the declining student population leading to closures of schools and kids and young adults alike struggling to stay afloat at a job in a hyper competitive society.

Monokuma’s outwardly friendly and peaceful looking nature conflicting with the strife and outright dire situations does seem to mesh with how Japanese society is likely grinding through its economic doldrums with a happy face.

“Society these days seems to have a general feeling of hopelessness. So I thought it would be good to emphasize the importance of having hope and just moving forward.”

This is very nice to hear, and is something I rather liked about Dangan Ronpa in general. We live in a time where, thanks to instantaneous worldwide broadcast, we get to hear every terrible thing about the world pretty much non-stop on a daily basis. As such it’s easy to see human nature in a very dark light by default–but I think with enough investigation (something DR is all about), the reality of the matter is not nearly so “black and white.”

Monokuma is a great character; I’d consider him an iconic video game antagonist at this point.

Funny thing is I always assumed that he was somehow related to the Square Enix, Kumanage games.

ReidHershel

“Society these days seems to have a general feeling of hopelessness. So I thought it would be good to emphasize the importance of having hope and just moving forward.”

This quote wins for multiple reasons. One thing I loved about Dangan Ronpa is how the Free Time Events addressed the issues students are constantly facing even though they may seem to be perfect on the outside.

I’ve been studying Cultural Anthropology and with Japan’s low birth rate now, and seniority being praised in some job fields, and the competitiveness overall of the country have lead to a more hopeless feel (it has the 10th highest suicide rate after all).

From the perspective of someone who has been in their school environment, I really enjoyed this game for its distinct characters and its lesson. Can’t wait for Dangan Ronpa 2 and Another Episode. ^^